[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 42 (Saturday, March 20, 2010)]
[House]
[Page H1793]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           HEALTH CARE REFORM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Himes) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. HIMES. Mr. Speaker, here we are a day away from a very big vote. 
The bill has been read, the details have been debated, the amendments 
have been offered, the fights have been fought, the misinformation has 
been peddled. But now we are left with the facts. We are left with the 
facts that the bill we are voting on tomorrow will, according to the 
Congressional Budget Office, reduce the deficit of this Nation by over 
$100 billion in the first 10 years of its existence and by over $1 
trillion in the second 10 years of its existence. This bill contains 
every reasonable and good idea that has been offered by credible health 
care economists for how to bring down the costs of our health care.
  Is there risk? Of course there is risk. This body may choose not to 
do some of the things it has said it will do. Some ideas will work. 
Some will fail. There is risk. But to try to do nothing is the biggest 
risk of all.
  We have spent so much time on the economics and the cost, and now I 
think, as we reflect on the last day, that we return to the moral 
question associated with health care reform. At the core of the moral 
question, to my way of thinking, is the fact that this Nation protects 
its own, that we look after each other, that we won't let you die.
  I need to tell you about my friend, Dave Roberson. He was a good, 
close friend, and a fellow parishioner at the First Presbyterian Church 
at Greenwich. A volunteer, an activist, a former NASA engineer, a kind, 
thoughtful smart man who lost his job at NASA 6 years ago. And with 
that loss of his job, he lost his health insurance.
  Dave had a heart condition. He didn't see a doctor for 6 years. He 
got no advice. He got no help. And 2 weeks ago, driving home, he lost 
consciousness for reasons that they believe had to do with his heart 
condition and drove his car into a wall and was killed. We buried Dave 
Roberson today, a good, fine man whom we did not stand for, whom the 
health care system failed. Dave worked his career so that his Nation 
could explore space. But his Nation, our country, couldn't do what was 
needed to keep Dave on Earth.
  And by the way, Dave is no lone individual. One hundred twenty-three 
people will die every single day because they don't have adequate 
health care coverage, 123 Americans every day like Dave Roberson. We 
don't do this. If our enemies attack, we spend billions to send men, 
women, and equipment to defend the lives and the values of this Nation. 
If your house is on fire, we send men, women, and equipment to put out 
that fire. If you're assaulted, if an intruder enters your home, we 
don't ask, we send police, equipment, the resources to save your life. 
But if you get breast cancer, if you have diabetes, if you get 
leukemia, we don't make that same promise. We might help you if you 
have a job and can keep that job, if you're not too old, if you're not 
maybe a woman with a history of domestic violence, we might help you. 
But we didn't help Dave Roberson. And we don't help the 123 Americans 
who die every day because we do not live true to the promise that we 
look out after each other. On this we can do better.
  And it's not just the Democrats who think so. It is 250 
organizations, including the AARP, the American Medical Association, 
the American College of Physicians, the Catholic Health Association, 
the Consumers Union, the League of Women Voters, the list goes on and 
on of organizations who say, we can do better, we can live more true to 
the values of this Nation.
  I hope that each and every one of my colleagues on both sides of the 
aisle when the vote comes tomorrow will say, we'll send the military. 
We'll send the fire. We'll send the police to save your life. And now 
being true to the values of this Nation, we will save your life if you 
get sick.

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